And the fun isn't over yet! To commemorate the special occasion, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates has joined the fray and shared the source code that shaped the company's origins — Altair BASIC.

Ahead of Microsoft's 50th anniversary this week, co-founder Bill Gates has released the company's original source code. Gates and Paul Allen wrote it in BASIC using a PDP-10 mainframe at Harvard ...

Altair Basic was developed by Gates, fellow Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and programmer Monte Davidoff. The trio reportedly coded “day and night for two months” in 1975.

But back to Microsoft. The Altair BASIC source code is available as a PDF download, covering 157 pages. Gates is “super proud of how it turned out,” and considering what Altair BASIC led to, ...

(Just as the 8080/Z80 Basic code was explained in “Microsoft Basic Decoded & Other Mysteries”, and a ton of equivalent 6502 Basic dissembles.) But it’s good to have source comments.

At the end of his post, he included a PDF of the original source code for the Altair Basic — all 157 pages of it. You can check it out here.. In his blog post, Gates noted that late Microsoft ...

Describing Microsoft's 50th anniversary as "bittersweet," Gates said it still feels like yesterday when he and Allen wrote the Altair BASIC code on a PDP-10 mainframe in Harvard's computer lab.

In 1975, Bill and I were using the same computing tech - the Altair 8800 and DEC's PDP-10 - as BASIC became a gateway for generations of developers. Where were you all those decades ago?

Nearly 50 years ago—April 4, 1975—Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Back then, everything centered around the development and sales of BASIC code interpreters.

Microsoft’s startup story: How the company became a tech giant, and what we can learn from it today. by Todd Bishop on November 13, 2024 at 9:42 am April 2, 2025 at 7:49 am ...

Ahead of Microsoft's 50th anniversary this week, co-founder Bill Gates has released the company's original source code. Gates and Paul Allen wrote it in BASIC using a PDP-10 mainframe at Harvard.